The most effective way to keep track of satellites is to get the daily orbital data published under the auspices of NORAD. You can find out more by
going to the
Space-Track Website.
You must register and await a couple of days for approval and a password.
Once you are in the loop, you can get information on around 8,000 satellites and space debris in Earth orbit. To plot the track of any particular
object, the NORAD data must be used in a tracker program, which does the calculations and plots the orbit against the night sky or as a 3D Earth
projection. Tracker programs will download the orbits automatically. You then just decide what to look for from the thousands available. The NOSS type
multiple platforms are all there (except the secret ones).
There is a FREE tracker download available from the
Yahoo Groups:
Satellite-Tracker. You have to register and be confirmed as a member. I dare say there are other software packages available, but this is the
one I use to drive my Meade LX200.
These trackers enable a GoTo telescope to follow any satellite in real time, so you can get enhanced viws of objects fainter then the eye can see.
The trio seen in the video is almost certainly of the military reconnaissance type and easily video'd using a tracker program. The camera in this
particular movie appears to be manually controlled but it definitely not hand held. All the satellites in the NORAD listings are visible by eye or
telescopically and are illuminated by reflected sunlight. Most are at several hundred miles altitude, so fade away as they move into the Earth's
shadow. Many of them are tumbling out of control and flare in unpredicatable ways.
Many amateurs watch them to generate possible flare patterns.
Because they must be sunlit to see them, satellites in low orbits (up to a few hundred miles) are only visible between certain hours. When the sun is
directly opposite your location (i.e. at local midnight) no satellites are visible. Any moving star-like object seen around midnight cannot be a
satellite. This is an important thing to remember when looking out for UFOs.
WG3
[edit on 5-9-2008 by waveguide3]
Does anyone know where else you can see it, because I
can't find it.
